Yesterday we had a little ceremony at the office. A new presents exchange tradition. Everybody had to buy a present, 40 ringgit minimum in value and we would change them with each other through a lucky draw. There were like 10 of us and for my part I bought a lovely IKEA table lamp for RM45.00. Guess what I got in exchange? A lousy small box of chocolate and a romantic love songs CDs. I mean whoever bought physical CDs anymore nowadays? There's iTunes and there's 4shared. Not very thoughtful whoever that fella is.

Later in the evening we all gathered at Atrium Lounge & Café in Sunway Pyramid for dinner. It was a 80 bucks per head buffet type dinner. The place is located right next door to Sunway Pyramid, sandwiched between the shopping mall and the resort. The ambiance & environment inside is quite nice. The place is filled with people but not too crowded. As always I tried a little bit of everything from baked salmon to Mongolian barbecue. We ate there until 10:00 pm. I tried to join in the conversation but I couldn't make any sense what they were talking about since they're not speaking in English or Malay. Still, I had a nice time there. Who doesn't like free food right?

The next morning I woke up with a really bad stomach ache. My tummy was in constant pain but yet it's not diarrhea because I had no urge to go to the toilet. I'm guessing the raw baked salmon from last night didn't really agree with me. It's definitely food poisoning. We planned to go back to Tanah Merah early this morning but since I was so weak and in pain we didn't go until 10:00 am. My wife did 2/3 of the driving while I slept for most of the journey. At least I tried to. By midday my body was hot all over and in addition to the stomach ache I now have a fever. Just great.

Nevertheless we made it safely to Tanah Merah, thanks to my wife. After this she can already drive from KL to here all by herself already. As of the moment, after an extended visit to the restroom my tummy felt a little better. Still I felt weak and this throbbing headache is killing me. Good night.

I have this age-old ritual whereby whenever I bought a new shoe, I will spend a night sleeping in them. No kidding. I've been doing this since my teenage years. It's not like I'm superstitious or something, it's just that I'd like to 'feel' the shoe, walk around with it inside the house for the last time before I go out and cannot do that again.

So yesterday I bought a new pair of boots. As always it's a Blackhammer, the same brand that I've been buying for the last 7 years. It's very tough, comfortable and most importantly affordable (and yeah I'm also loyal). You can find their HQ in Serdang next to the Pasar Malam. As usual with any new shoes I also slept wearing it last night. At least for the first 5 minutes before taking it of.

Yesterday I sent my USB flash drive to the cleaners. Literally. It was in my jeans' pocket and I totally forgot about it until it came out fresh and clean from the washing machine. That's why I had to put it under the desk lamp overnight. Other than that, I also used the old store in a bag of rice method for another night just to make sure all the moisture is really gone. Today prayed to the Lord and plugged the flash drive into my PC. Guess what? It still works! Perfectly. So next time you accidentally sent your electronics to the cleaners, remember: lights and rice.

That thing I used to prop up the flash drive under the lamp? It's a packet of Yasmin pills. Married couples should know this. It's our preferred method of contraception. This thing is quite expensive too at 50 ringgit a pop. Previously we've been using Marvelon. Well actually my wife does all the hard work. She claimed it makes her fat so the change to Yasmin. Compared to our previous method of birth control, this one is heaven. My sex life has never been better since. Some people prefers IUCD. That's good too. But that method is even more expensive. Some claim it has it's fair share of side effects. Actually every birth control method has some side effects. You'll just have to deal with it. Whatever it is I prefer the previous two compared to coitus interruptus. Personally, I feel one of the main reason guys get married is so that they can let it all out at the right place and the right time. Coitus interruptus is suitable only for porn stars or unmarried couples. I hated it. It doesn't feel right.

That little UMNO notebook you see there is a gift from a friend. I use it to write down all the movies that I have burned to my DVDs. Just because I hate UMNO doesn't mean I have to throw away a perfectly good notebook. That's all. The End.

Last month I got 4 free movie tickets from those kind people at Nuffnang for my birthday. Today I finally get to see a movie with my wife at TGV The Mines. Early in the morning we visited my Mom who just came back from Mecca, left Hana with her and went on to watch the hottest movie on the screen today, Ombak Rindu with an all-star assemble such as Aaron Aziz, Maya Karin and Lisa Surihani. The movie was adapted from a Malay novel of the same name which I haven't read (or plan to). Overall it was a good movie really. Filled with tragedy, love and ultimately a happy ending.

That said some people seems to have an issue with the movie. Utusan for example ran a full-length review condemning the movie as useless garbage. Former MTV VJ turned actor/host Wardina also seemed to think that this move would set a bad precedent to Muslims, especially the youth in the country. Aaron Aziz never prays (what do you expect? He's Singaporean) and Maya Karin seemed to enjoy being pimped by her captors. The thing about arguing with these so-called pious people is you can't really win against them. Simply because they're on the right side. God's gift to humankind. If they're so holy, what business do they have showing up on TV every day especially TV3, mother of all slanders and lies?

If it wasn't for the fact that Ombak Rindu did so well and many people were singing praises about the movie, I doubt any people would rise up and launch a crusade against it. It's a movie for goodness' sake. Purely for entertainment. Nobody's perfect on the silver screen let alone in real life. A bunch of hypocrites that's what you are. If you think this movie is bad then stop going to the cinema or stop watching another movie, ever. All of them are shit and worthless anyway. Stay at home or join a tabligh like my brother. If you're so holy and good, be consistent. Not whack a decent & completely harmless movie and then go on a date with your boyfriend. Holy people shouldn't be dating. Be more like PAS. They consistently fight to uphold the tenets of Islam. No matter if it draws the ire of some section of the community. At least they're not hypocrite.

Thing is it's not that I don't want to. It's just I can't afford such luxuries right now. Not yet at least. So we did the next best thing. Pack them off to stay with their grandparent for a month. At least our parent would be happy. So would the kids, I hope.

When I was little, my parent did the same thing. Almost every school holiday my Dad would fetch us and pack us off to Penang to live with our grandma during the holidays. I guess that was the decent and economical thing to do other than let us waste our school break doing nothing. My grandma, she would be delighted to see us then. She would cook us all kinds of wonderful meals and food, like that authentic Penang fish curry. You can't find that kind of curry anywhere else in Malaysia. Only a real Penangnite can cook a fish curry like that. And I don't usually eat fish mind you. But for her, I'd make an exception. Let's not forget about her legendary 9 inch roti canai. Yes, my grandma makes her own roti canai. Don't need to go to no mamak to have roti canai whenever we were in Penang. Grandma would roll her own dough, spread them around, flip them in the air like a boss and cook them on the round pan thingy just like a real mamak. Where'd she learn to do that? You guess is as good as mine.

Apart from that she would also ask my uncles to bring us sightseeing around Penang. We would visit Bukit Bendera, Padang Kota Lama, Komtar and have a bath at Batu Feringghi among others. But the highlight of our visit must be Penang Fair. We can't wait to visit that fair. It's huge and we could watch concerts by the top artists of the day and play all kind of games. It was the good times.

However as the years go by, my uncles started to have a family of their own and then suddenly we have nobody to take us anywhere anymore. So most of the time we just chill at grandma's big house at Lengkok Pemancar, Gelugor. Since then, our annual visit to Penang was not that fun anymore. My Dad would be too busy working in KL, Selangor, Johore or God knows where and the only time he has was to pick us up from Pasir Mas and drop us in Penang. We'll only see him again about 4 weeks later. Around that time I wish he would stop sending us there to Penang in the first place. The fun and games was all gone and I especially felt like a prisoner in that big place. Don't know what my siblings felt though but I stopped looking forward to such visits soon after that. Worse I started to create all kind of mischief to get their attention. Once I sprayed aerosol all over the second floor and got a handful of scolding from my grandma. Not to mention get into a fight with my cousin Fendi. I was really bored. After my parent got divorced, we rarely go to Penang again, if ever. Maybe once in two years, something like that.

So you see, I'm worried if my kids would somehow feel or experience the same thing. I do hope that's not the case. Mia for example is very friendly and has no problems making new friends. Adam on the other hand is rather like me, shy and very reserved at first. But over time he'll warm up to others. Eventually. That said, I trust their grandparent has something fun and exciting in store for them back home. After all Linda's father just retired from the force earlier this year. He for once has all the time in the world.

If not, at least Adam has his new Playstation console to play with at home. When I was his age, I'm just happy playing with my cheap video game console all day long. That's how I became the champion Street Fighter player in the neighborhood. I hope that rubs off to him somehow.

Disneyland and similar theme parks will come. But not right now. The future maybe.

Today my sister in law gave birth to a new baby boy named Muhammad Umar Khalif in Manjung, Perak. It's their first boy in the family after having 2 girls previously and they're mighty glad. The husband is going to slaughter 2 goats in gratitude. Welcome little Umar. As you will soon find out, I'm your coolest uncle ever.